Siding panel



C- E. HINDS SIDIIG PANEL Sept. 27, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 9, l

Sept. 27, 1955 c. E. HINDS 2,718,674

SIDING PANEL Filed Feb. 9, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patento.

SIDING PANEL Caryl E. Hinds, Norwood, Mass., assignor to Bird & Son,

Inc., East Walpole, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 9, 1953, Serial No. 335,910

6 Claims. (Cl. 20-5) This invention relates to substantially rigid panels of building material of the type having on the weather side thereof a simulation of masonry. More particularly, it concerns novel panels of this type in which at least some of the masonry simulating areas thereof have been provided with indentations of a particular form and character as hereinafter described, which give them a surprisingly realistic appearance of elements of roughsurfaced masonry, whether stone, tile or brick.

A most diflicult and pervasive problem which has constantly confronted the art has been that of minimizing the artificiality of appearance of masonry-simulating siding panels. I have discovered that by providing particular stone-masonry simulating areas with indentations of the form and character described, the appearance of natural chipped stone is given to such areas with striking realism.

The panels of the type to which this invention relates include typically a base of stifi? fiber composition insulating board, surface-impregnated with asphalt (or other waterproofing material), a coating of waterproof asphaltic material (or other plastic material) on the weather face thereof, and granules partially embedded in said asphaltic material. Various areas of the granule-covered surface may be marked off to simulate elements of masonry, as, by using a hot embossing roll to expose asphalt along lines defining such elements.

Generally speaking, in the preferred new panels according to my invention, I provide the areas of the panel which I wish to give the appearance of a chipped stone surface with a multiplicity of indentations, running generally from the periphery of each area toward the center thereof. Each indentation has, generally speaking, approximately the form which would result from pressing a finger into a plastic substance; and because the indentations are made after the granules are embedded in the asphalt, but while the asphalt is still plastic, varying amounts of said asphalt are exposed along the sides and bottoms of said indentations. In general the indentations are made to become shallower as they get farther from said peripheries and nearer to the centers of the areas. In some or all of the areas which it is desired to have simulate chipped stone, I may terminate substantially all of the indentations short of the central portions of said areas, leaving what may be termed plateaus in the centers of said areas.

Other advantages and features of the invention will become readily apparent in the following description. The accompanying drawings and photograph show a preferred embodiment of my invention in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a panel made in accordance with my invention though, as applied in actual use, it would be an elevational view;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of said panel taken on the line 2-2;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of said panel taken along line 33; and

A Patented Sept, 27, 1955 Fig. 4 is a photograph of an actual complete panel embodying the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a panel of.building siding material 10, which has as'its base a substantially rigid'fiber insulating board made up of the portions 12 and 14 (or if preferred, manufactured from a single layer or more than two layers of material), rectangular in shape and provided with ship-lap flanges 16 at each longitudinal and transverse edge thereof. Two or more panels are thus adapted to be applied in abutting co-planar relation, the ship-lap flanges of one panel overlapping the ship-lap flanges of the adjoining panels, to form water tight joints. v

' Said base may be impregnated'with asphalt or other bituminous material to waterproof and stiffen the board and bind together the surface fibers in it.. The face to be exposed is then coated with a layer of thermoplastic asphaltic coating material 18, such as asphalt of high melting point combined withlsuitable reinforcing mineral material. While this coating is still in a plastic adhesive condition the face is surfaced in the desired patterns with granule particles 20. of suitable color. The granules 20 are then partially embedded in said coating material, as by the application of suitable roll pressure. Excess granules not embedded in the coating may be removed in any suitable manner. The lines 22 delineating the various masonry simulating elements may be embossed with a hot embossing roll, which exposes the dark asphalt therealong, in the manner well known to the art.

The indentations 24 may be made, for example, with a suitable roll die which is passed over the surface of the panel while the coating material 18 is still plastic. As a result, varying amounts of the darker asphalt show through along the sides and bottoms of at least' some of said indentations, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

If desired, indentations exhibiting varying degrees of darkness in color may be produced using a plastic material lighter in color than asphalt but employing some darker-colored granules in, or otherwise darkening, said indentations.

As appears, most of said indentations 24 extend in direction generally from a peripheral line 22 defining a masonry simulating area 26 toward the horizontal centerline of such area, although certain of said indentations, as those designated 24', may take other directions.

Said indentations 24 in general are deepest near the periphery lines 22 of the chipped stone simulating areas 26 and 26', and become shallower as they approach the central portion of said areas, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

In the chipped stone simulating areas 26, most of said indentations 24 are terminated short of the central portion thereof, leaving, in effect, a plateau 28 at said central portion. In the chipped stone simulating areas 26', on the other hand, the indentations extend all the way into the central portions of said areas.

In my preferred embodiment, the material displaced in making the indentations 24 has been allowed to bulge up wholly without constraint, so that the ridges 32 result along the indentations 24, extending above the level of even the plateaus 28. However, the displaced material may, by suitably constructing the roll die, be redistributed over the unindented areas so that no ridges rising above the level of the plateaus 28 result.

It is not fully understood why panels according to my new invention simulate with such striking and unexpected naturalness actual chipped stone, giving the illusory effect of having a much greater and different threedimensional quality than is the case. Perhaps the effect is due in some part to the optical illusion whereby when an area of a flat surface is outlined by a re-entrant angle pany 1944.)

, It will be apparent that other panels incorporating myinvention and including areas simulating chipped stone elements may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. Mortar line simulating areas may be coated with granules of the same or a different color from those coating the 'stone simulating areas, or even made by exposing suitably wide lines of asphalt.

, All the masonry simulating areas in the panel may be madeto simulate the same rough-surfaced masonry according to the principles of my invention; or certain of the areas may be made to simulate one type of such masonry and certain other. of the areas another type thereof, all in accordance with the principles of my invention; or some or many of the areas in the panel may be made to simulate other masonry elements such as stone of other appearance, for example, as shown in the. areas 30, or ordinary brick. Other variants within the scope of my invention will be evident to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. An insulating board siding panel comprising a substantially flat relatively rigid insulating board backing member, a plastic adhesive layer adherent to a face thereof with granules. adherent to said adhesive layer to provide a weather-resistant surface, certain areas of said surface simulating individual chipped masonry elements and having therein a multiplicity of randomly disposed re-entrant depressions formed in the body of said. adhesive layer itself, each depression locally dis- Cir placing said surface toward said backing member, at least some of said depressions extending in direction from adjacent the outer edges of the respective individual elements generally inwardly toward the central portions thereof and terminating within said elements and having sides and bottoms darker in color than adjacent undepressed portions of the respective individual elements.

2. The siding panel of claim 1 in which certain of said individual elements include central portions mainly free from depressions and higher than the bottoms of said depressions.

3. The siding panel of claim 1 in which said plastic adhesive layer is darker in color than said granules in said individual elements, and in which said plastic adhesive layer is partially exposed in the sides and bottoms of at least some of said depressions, whereby said sides and bottoms are darker in color than adjacent undepressed portions of the respective individual elements.

4. The siding panel of claim 1 in which areas of said surface adjacent to said elements simulate mortar joints, said mortar joint simulating areas being on a uniform level higher than the bottoms of said depressions.

5. The siding panel of claim 1 in which said depressions extending in direction from adjacent the outer edges of their respective individual elements generally inwardly toward the central portions thereof and terminating within said elements become gradually increasingly shallow in the direction of said central portions.

6. The siding panel of claim 1 in which ridges rise adjacent to at least some of said depressions, said ridges being of greater height than the remaining undepressed portions of said weather-resistant surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,221,475 Goldschmidt Nov. 12, 1940 2,246,377 Mattes June 17, 1941 2,270,809 Kaye Ian. 20, 1942 2,323,299 Craig July 6, 1943 2,569,543 Stolp Oct. 2, 1951 

